REVELATION
AUTHORSHIP
§ Rev. 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-
servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by
His angel to His bond-servant John,
§ Author identifies himself as "John" three more times (See 1:4, 9, and 22:8)
§ Four Possibilities
§ John the _______________
§ John the _______________
§ An _______________John who was a prophet
§ Someone using "John" as a _______________
AUTHORSHIP
§ External Evidence - Against Apostolic Authorship
§ Dionysius (d. 264) - concluded that the Gospel of John and Revelation were not
authored by the same man
§ He called the Greek of Revelation "_______________" due to the many
_______________irregularities
§ Papias' Statement - two Johns?
§ Eusebius took Papias' statement to heart and believed that John the
_______________, not John the Apostle, wrote Revelation
§ Canonical Difficulties
§ West - Eusebius classified the Book as both homologoumena
(_______________) and notha (_______________)
§ East - Church accepted it early and then later had hesitations
§ External Evidence - For Apostolic Authorship
§ Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen
AUTHORSHIP
§ Internal Evidence - For Apostolic Authorship
§ From within Revelation
§ The author is known by _______________ (John your brother) to the
seven churches to which he writes
§ The author expects the churches to respond _______________and
_______________to his writing
§ From a Comparison of Other Johannine Literature
§ Strong _______________with the Gospel of John
§ Common ideas, theological motifs, terms (Christ as
_______________, _______________, _______________, etc.)
§ Symbolic use of the number _______________is similar to what is
found in the Gospel of John (seven signs, seven "I am" sayings)
§ Conclusion – Best option for authorship is John the _______________
, DATE
§ A Neronian Date – _______________
§ External Evidence – Nero well-known for _______________of Christians in
Rome
§ Internal Evidence
§ The identification of the _______________in 17.10
§ Depends on whether one calculates beginning with Julius Caesar
or Augustus
§ The identification of the _______________in 13.18
§ Aramaic transcription of the name Nero Caesar (616) or Neron
Caesar (666)?
§ Supposed references to the _______________conditions in Jerusalem
§ In Rev 11.1ff, there is a description of the measuring of the city of
Jerusalem with special reference to the temple
DATE
§ A Domitian Date – _______________ (Best Option)
§ _______________Worship - The background to Revelation is that of a
_______________between earthly powers and the Christian church
§ The ____________________is personified in the figure of the beast who
demands universal worship (13.4, 15f; 14.9-11; 15.2; 16.2; 19.20; 20.4)
§ _______________insisted on greater divine titles (our Lord and our God)
than earlier emperors in order to increase his tyrannical hold on the
reigns of government
DATE
§ A Domitian Date – AD 90's (Best Option)
§ Persecution of Christians – More widespread than the time of _______________
§ The author appears to have been in _______________and a Christian
named Antipas had been killed as a _______________ (2:13)
§ The church at Smyrna is warned of imminent imprisonments (2:10) and
others had already suffered martyrdom (6:9)
§ The author refers to "the hour of trial that is going to come upon the
whole world to test those who live on the earth" (3:10)
§ In certain passages regarding the great harlot (Rome) there are
statements about her being drunk with the blood of the saints (17.6;
18.24; 19.2)
DATE
§ The Nero _______________Legend
§ Behind the beast imagery of Rev 13 and 17 lies the widely-believed myth (post-
80) that Nero would _______________to Rome
§ Nero was said to have not really died but had _______________to the East and
would return to Rome as the head of the _______________army
§ A second form of the myth suggested Nero did die but would return from the
_______________
§ The _______________of the Asiatic Churches